CALYX’s Mission

introducing a wide audience to high quality literature and art by women

providing a forum for diversity and underrepresented writers and viewpoints

discovering and publishing emerging and developing writers

preserving publications for future audiences

CALYX Journal is known for discovering important writers, such as Julia Alvarez, Paula Gunn Allen, Olga Broumas, Natalie Goldberg, Barbara Kingsolver, and Sharon Olds, among the more than 4,000 writers published during our first 42 years. CALYX was the first to publish the artwork of Frida Kahlo in color in the U.S. In 1980 CALYX also featured work by the Nobel Laureate poet Wislawa Szymborska–the first English translations of her work published in the U.S.

CALYX is the recipient of the Oregon Governor’s Arts Award, the Stanley H. Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts, Pushcart Prizes, and American Literary Magazine Awards, among others.

CALYX, Inc., is a nonprofit organization with a 501(c)3 status.

CALYX holds a very special place in my heart. Some of my very first published words–two poems–were published in CALYX years ago. Feminist literature amplifies our voices and extends our capabilities. At a time when mass trade publishing in the US is narrowing itself down to a race for the buck, I am increasingly comforted by the presence of feminist presses. Without them we would lose much more than feminist thought–we would lose color, and diversity, poetry, the outside chance, the underdog’s story, the heretical questions, the answers we need. As long as we crave honest reading, we’ll need our feminist presses.